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LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY 

OF  ILLINOIS 

LIBRARY 

973. 

7 

Se9c 

cop. 

2 

Richard  Barksdale  Harwell 


John  P  Micl^olson 


/ 


ex/- 


THE 


CONDITION  OF  THE  SOUTH 


AND     THE 


DUTY    OF   THE   NORTH. 


AS    SET    FORTH    IX   A   LETTER   FROM 


GEN.    T.    SEYMOUR, 


LATELY    RELEASED   FROM    "UNDER    FIRE,"    AT    CHARLESTON. 


NEW     YORK 

]  8  6  4.-—^ 


The  followiug  deeply  interesting  letter  is  from  the  pen  of  Gen. 
Truman  Seymour,  lately  released  from  "  under  fire  "  at  Charles- 
ton, S.  C.  As  an  old  West  Point  officer,  with  Gen.  Anderson  at 
Sumter,  and  stationed  many  years  at  the  South,  he  knows  the 
Southern  people  well.  He  is  a  brave,  true  soldier,  devoted  to  the 
Union,  and  although  at  the  time  of  the  unfortunate  battle  in 
Florida  he  was  accused  of  lukewarmness  by  those  ignorant  of  his 
character,  he  has  proved,  by  his  actions  on  many  a  battle-field,  as 
well  as  by  his  plucky  talk  to  the  rebels  at  Gordonsville,  when 
captured  in  May  last,  that  he  was  every  inch  loyal  to  the  old 
flag: 

"WrLLIAMSTOWN,  MASS., 

August  15th,  1864. 
My  Dear  Sir — 

You  ask  for  my  impressions  of  the  present  condi- 
tion of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  you  shall  have 
them.     For  the  benefit  of  our  cause,  I  wish  they  might 
be  impressed  upon  every  soul  in  the  land,  that  the  confi- 
dence begotten  of  my  three  months'  observations  in  the 
interior  of  the  South  might  be  shared  by  every  man  who 
--  ^     has  the  least  connection  with  the  responsibilities  of  this^ 
siivjj^  struggle.     And  I  am  sure  that  these  opinions  are  not 
v:;;^  peculiar  to  myself.     Every  one  of  the  fifty  officers  just 
\^     exchanged  will  express  the  same — every  one  of  our  men, 
°      whether  from  the  jails  of  Charleston  or  the  pens  of  Ma- 
con and  Audersonville,  will  confidently  tell  the  same 
Btory. 


The  rebel  cause  is  fast  failing  from  exhaustion.  Their 
two  grand  armies  Lave  been  reinforced  this  summer  from 
the  last  resources  of  the  South.  From  every  corner  of 
the  land,  every  old  man  and  every  bey  capable  of  bear 
ing  a  rifle,  has  been  impressed,  willingly  or  unwillingly, 
and  hurried  to  the  front.  Lee's  army  was  the  first  so 
strengthened — it  was  at  the  expense  of  Hood's.  Gov- 
ernor Brown  told  the  trath  with  a  plainness  that  was 
very  bitter,  but  it  was  none  the  less  the  truth.  Let  me 
extract  a  few  prominent  statements  from  his  proclama- 
tion of  July  9th,  addressed  to  the  "  Reserved  Militia  of 
Georgia :'' — 

*'  A  late  correspondence  with  the  President  of  the  Con- 
federate States  satisfies  my  mind  that  Georgia  is  to  be 
left  to  her  own  resources  to  supply  the  reinforcements  to 
General  Johnson's  army,  which  are  indispensable  to  the 
protection  of  Atlanta,  and  to  prevent  the  State  from 
being  overrun  by  the  overwhelming  numbers  now  under 
command  of  the  Federal  general  upon  our  soil. 

*'  But  there  is  need  of  further  reinforcements,  as  will 
be  seen  by  the  accompanying  letter  of  General  Johnston; 
*  *  *  *  and  it  becomes  my  duty  to  call  forth  every 
raan  in  the  State  able  to  bear  arms,  as  fast  as  they  can 
be  armed,  to  aid  in  the  defence  of  our  homes,  our  altars, 
and  the  graves  of  our  ancestors. 

"  IS.  the  Confederate  government  will  not  send  the  large 
cavalry  force  (now  engaged  in  raiding  and  in  repelling 


raids)  to  destroy  the  long  line  of  railroads  over  which 
General  Sherman  brings  his  supplies  from  Xashville,  and 
thus  compel  him  to  retreat,  v/ith  the  loss  of  most  of  his 
army,  the  people  of  Georgia,  who  have  already  been 
drawn  upon  more  heavily  in  proportion  to  population 
than  those  of  any  other  State  in  the  Confederacy^  must, 
at  all  hazzards  and  at  any  sacrifice,  rush  to  the  front. 

"  If  General  Johnston's  army  is  destroyed,  the  Gulf 
States  are  thrown  open  to  the  enemy,  and  we  are  ruined." 

There  must  indeed  have  been  desperate  weakness  when 
Georgia,  and  the  Southern  cause  with  it,  were  so  neglected, 
that  Lee's  army  might  be  made  equal  to  the  task  of  hold- 
ing Grant  to  the  Potomac  or  the  James,  and  the  people 
of  the  South  ire  intelli2rent  enougrh  to  understand  and  to 
appreciate  the  fact — and  they  have  lost  heart  accordingly. 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  written  by  one  rebel  to 
another,  that  accidentally  fell  into  the  hands  of  one  of  ray 
fellow-prisoners,  and  for  the  authenticity  of  which  I 
vouch  : — 

"  Very  few  j^ersons  are  preparing  to  obey  the  late  call 
of  the  governor.  His  summons  will  meet  with  no  re- 
sponse here.  The  people  are  soul-sick  and  heartily  tired 
of  this  hateful,  hopeless  strife.  They  would  end  it  if  they 
could,  but  our  would-be  rulers  will  take  good  care  that 
no  opportunity  be  given  the  people  to  vote  against  it. 
By  lies,  by  fraud  and  by  chicanery  this  revolution  was  in 
augurated — by  force,  by  tyranny  and  the  suppression  of 


VLm 


truth  it  is  sustained.  It  is  nearly  time  that  it  should 
end — and  of  sheer  depletion  it  must  end  before  long. 
"\Ve  have  had  enough  of  want  and  of  woe — enough  of 
cruelty  and  carnage — enough  of  cripples  and  corpses. 
There  is  an  abundance  of  bereaved  parents,  weeping 
widows,  and  orphaned  children  in  the  land :  if  we  can, 
let  us  not  increase  the  number.  The  men  who,  to  ag- 
grandize themselves,  or  to  gratify  their  own  political 
ambition,  brought  this  cruel  war  upon  a  peaceful  and 
prosperous  country,  will  have  to  render  a  fearful  account 
of  their  misdeeds  to  a  wronged,  robbed,  and  outraged 
people.  Earth  has  no  punishment  sufficiently  meet  for 
their  villany  here,  and  hell  will  hardly  be  hot  enough  to 
scathe  them  hereafter !" 

There  is  certainly  no  small  proportion  of  the  Southern 
people  (despite  the  lying  declarations  of  their  journals — 
as  we  had  good  occasion  to  learn)  that  not  only  favors 
the  progress  of  our  arms,  but  that  daily  prays  that  this 
exterminating  war  may  very  soon  be  brought  to  a 
finahty  by  our  complete  and  perfect  success.  They  have 
had  too  much  of  despotism — not  enough  of  the  triumph 
promised  them.  Many  intelligent  Southern  gentlemen 
do,  indeed,  express  strong  hopes  of  their  ultimate  inde- 
pendence, but  such  hope  is  not  shared  by  the  masses. 
Disappointed  from  the  first  in  not  having  been  acknow- 
ledged by  foreign  powers — more  bitterly  disappointed  in 
their  general  expectation  that  Northern  cowardice  or  dis 


wm 


5 

sension  would  secure  their  ends — but  a  single  chance 
remains,  and  that  is  in  the  result  of  our  next  election  for 
president.  If  a  Democrat  succeeds  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  they 
profess  to  feel  sure  of  negotiation,  and  their  Confederacy. 
They  believe  a  Democrat  will  be  elected.  In  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's re-election  they  see  only  subjugation,  annihilation — 
for  the  war  must  then  continue,  and  continuance  is  their 
failure  and  ruin. 

In  military  affairs  it  is  an  excellent  rule  never  to  do 
what  the  enemy  desires  :  is  it  not-equally  true  in  politics  ? 

Certain  it  is  that  the  only  remaining  hope  of  the  South 
lies  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  defeat. 

Xow  I  am  not  enough  of  a  politician  to  know  whether 
the  election  of  a  Democrat  can  result  as  favorably  to  the 
South  as  it  anticipates.  The  wish  alone  may  be  the  pa- 
rent of  their  belief.  But  I  assured  all  who  expressed  that 
belief,  that  the  North,  as  a  mass,  is  as  united  as  the 
South ;  that  no  Democrat  could  be  elected  on  a  peace 
platform ;  and  that  any  president  who  would  inaugurate 
any  measure  leading  to  peace  on  the  basis  of  Southern 
independence  would  be  promptly  hung,  by  loyal  acclama- 
tion, to  the  lamp-post  in  fiont  of  his  own  presidential 
mansion. 

However  that  may  be,  if  we  are  but  true  to  ourselves 
there  can  be  but  one  result.  "VThat  we  now  need  is  men — 
only  men.  Xot  substitutes  or  hirelings,  who  go  forth 
for  any  motive  but  the  country's  good,  and  produce  but 


little  effect  beyond  depreciating  our  armies — but  men — 
such  as  really  constitute  the  state,  and  boast  of  being 
freemen,  and  llie  sons  of  freemen.  Yet  if  these  fail  to  sup- 
port their  country's  cause  in  her  hour  of  peril  they  are 
unworthy  of  continuing  freemen,  and  should  blush  ever 
to  exercise  a  freeman's  privileges. 

But  if  bounties  must  be  paid,  let  it  be  in  Southern 
land — not  in  Northern  gold — and  armies  of  emigrants, 
whose  sons  may  aspire  to  even  the  rule  of  the  nation,  will 
cross  the  seas  to  win  the  broad  acres  that  disloyalty  has 
forfeited  to  the  state. 

To  ever^^  intelligrent  soldier  who  has  fousfht  throusrh 
all  these  indecisive  campaigns,  on  almost  numberless  in- 
decisive fields,  the  question  constantly  arises,  with  touch- 
ing force,  why  we  do  not  overwhelm  our  enemies? 

Tens  of  thousands  of  lives  are  lost  because  our  array 
of  strength  is  so  disproportionately  less  than  that  against 
which  we  battle.  Everywhere  we  meet  on  nearly  equal 
terms,  where  we  might  well  have  four  to  one.  The  cost 
to  us  in  blood  and  treasure,  of  a  prolonged  war,  can 
hardly  be  foreseen :  the  economy  is  infinite  of  such  an 
effort  as  the  glorious  Xorth  should  put  forth.  The  South 
will  fight  as  long  as  the  struggle  is  equal — it  will  submit 
to  such  preponderance  as  we  should  show  on  every  field. 
Glance  at  the  summer's  campaigns. 

If  Sherman  had  but  50,000  or  To, 000  more  men,  the 
South  would  be  lost,  because  Hood  would  be  annihilated. 


If  Meade  had  moved  in  the  spring  with  reserves  of  75,000 
to  100,000  men,  Lee  Avould  have  been  hoj^elessly  crushed. 

Even  at  this  moment,  a  third  column  of  40,000  to 
50,000,  rightly  moved,  would  give  unopposed  blows  to 
the  Confederacy,  from  which  she  could  never  rise. 

What  folly,  then,  to  struggle  on  in  this  way,  when  we 
can  send  to  the  field  five  times  the  force  already  there. 
What  weakness,  to  think  we  cannot  conquer  the  South. 
Behind  the  James,  only  boys  and  old  men  are  to  be  seen, 
while  here  men  buy  and  sell  as  in  the  olden  days  of  quiet, 
and  resfiments  of  able-bodied  citizens  crowd  the  streets 
of  our  cities.  There  is  but  one  course  consistent  with 
Northern  safety  or  honor.  Let  the  people  awake  to  a 
sense  of  their  dignity  and  strength,  and  a  few  months  of 
comparatively  trifling  exertion,  of  such  effort  as  alone  is 
worthy  of  the  great  North,  and  the  rebellion  will  crumble 
before  us.  Fill  this  draft  promptly  and  willingly,  with 
good  and  true  men :  send  a  few  spare  thousands  over 
rather  than  under  the  call,  and  the  summer  sun  of  1865 
will  shine  upon  a  regenerated  land. 

There  are  some  who  speak  of  peace  ! — Of  all  Yankees^ 
the  Southron  most  scorns  those  who  do  not  fight — but 
are  glad  enough  to  employ  them,  as  they  do  their  slaves, 
to  perform  their  dirty  W4)rk.  Peace  for  the  South  will 
be  sweet  indeed;  for  us,  except  through  Southern  subju- 
gation, but  anarchy  and  war  forever.  The  Pacific,  the 
Western,  the  Eastern  States,  would  at  once  fall  asunder. 


8 

The  South  would  be  dominant ;  and  the  people  of  the 
North  would  deserve  to  be  driven  afield,  under  negro 
overseers,  to  hoe  corn  and  cotton  for  Southern  masters. 

But  no  faint-hearted  or  short-sighted  policy  can  set 
aside  the  eternal  decree  of  the  Almighty,  who  has  planted 
no  lines  of  division  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  western 
deserts — between  the  great  lakes  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexi- 
co,— that  signify  His  will  that  we  should  be  separated: 
and  unless  so  separated,  peace  is  a  delusion,  and  its  advo- 
cacy a  treason  against  the  wisest  and  holiest  interests  of 
our  country. 

It  has  been  with  a  trust  that  renewed  hope  and  vigor 

might  be  given,  where  vigor  and  hope  are  needful,  that 

I  have  written,  and  you  have  my  consent  to  using  this  as 

you  please. 

And  I  am,  very  truly,  yours, 

T.  Seymour, 

Brig.-Gen.  U.  S.  Vols. 

Mr.  W.  E.  D.,  Jr., 

New  York. 


THE  DUTY  OF   THE  HOUR. 

"Wf  suppose  that  every  man  and  woman  in  the  land  knows  that  the 
armies  of  the  Union  which  are  actively  engaged  in  their  heroic  eflforts 
to  crush  out  this  Southern  rebellion,  are  greatly  in  need  of  reinforce- 
ment. Lieut.-Gren.  Grant  himself  has  but  recently  declared  that  '■'if 
he  had  now  hut  a  hundred  thousand  fresh  men  he  could,  in  fifty  days,  do 
up  all  the  fighting  that  needs  to  be  done  during  the  war.''  "  This,"  wrote 
our  Washington  correspondent  the  other  day,  "  is  no  shallow  hearsay  ; 
it  is  the  authentic  declaration  of  the  high  name  given  ;  and  the  senti- 
ment is  affirmed  by  every  mihtary  man  I  have  lately  met." 

Think  of  this,  ye  who  long  for  p?ace !  Think  of  it.  ye  who  desire 
a  restored  Union  !  Think  of  it,  brave  young  men,  and  all  who  are 
patriots  or  lovers  of  American  liberty  !  And  do  not  only  think  of  it, 
but  take  such  action  as  the  thought  and  the  circumstances  require.  If 
this  generation  are  worthy  of  the  glorious  Union  which  their  fathers 
formed,  and  the  freedom  which  their  fathers  fought  for,  let  them  now, 
in  the  moment  of  the  Union's  greatest  need,  in  the  day  of  Freedom's 
peril,  prove  it  by  the  course  they  adopt. 

Grakt  says  '"but  a  hundred  thousand  fresh  men."  What  is  this  to 
tlie  twenty -two  millions  of  the  North  ?  To  this  gre.at.  populous  Em- 
pire State  of  New  York  it  is  less  than  twenty  tliousand  men.  Had 
we  the  right  spirit,  this  city  alone  ouglit  to  put  thnt  force  in  the  field 
in  a  week. 

In  fifty  days  we  may  have  peace.  This  is  no  flippant  prophecy,  but 
it  is  the  asseveration  of  a  man  wlio,  more  than  any  other,  knows  the 
whole  mihtary  power  of  this  rebellion — who  has  fouglit  its  gre.-itest 
armies  in  Tennessee,  in  Mississippi,  in  Georgia,  and  in  Virginia — who 
has  confronted  its  greatest  leaders,  assailed  and  captured  its  strongest 
positions,  and  routed  on  a  dozen  fields  its  largest  armies  "  In  fifty 
days  " — before  the  mellow  sun  of  the  coming  October  passes  away, 
before  the  frosts  of  Winter  are  upon  us,  he  "can  do  up  all  the  fighting 
that  needs  to  be  done  during  the  war" — if  we  will  but  give  bim  the 
reinforcements  which  we  can  so  easily  furnish.  Will  the  country  ro- 
ppond  ?     Will  you  do  your  duty  in  the  crisis.  0  patriotic  read  r? 


H.E.H. 
DUPL. 


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